Man accused of planning blasts in Delhi acquitted

A suspected Lashkar-e-Tayiba militant arrested for allegedly planning to carry out bomb blasts in the capital was on Saturday acquitted by a Delhi court.

Mukhtar Ahmed Khan, arrested by the Special Cell of Delhi Police in June, 2007, was acquitted by Additional Sessions Judge S S Rathi as the prosecution failed to prove its case.

Mukhtar was arrested on June 12, 2007, from Azadpur Sabzi Mandi in north Delhi with allegedly 1.5 kg of RDX, a timer and two detonators.

The prosecution case was that he had come to Delhi at the behest of LeT commander Abu Alqama, based in Pakistan occupied Kashmir, and Abu Musab alias Tahir and Abu Hamza, the district commanders of LeT in Srinagar.

The prosecution had also alleged that the explosives seized from him were meant to cause bomb blasts in Delhi at the behest of LeT commander Abu Alqama. Mukhtar was supposed to hand over the explosives to another LeT operative in Delhi before taking the bus to Lahore, said the prosecutors.

Mukhtar's counsel M S Khan had pointed out various loopholes in the prosecution's theory -- that Mukhtar had come to Delhi in May, 2007, and stayed in a lodge near Jama Masjid till June 7, 2007 -- where he was being watched by the Special Cell before he disappeared on the morning of June 8, 2007.

He had argued there was no coherence in the version of the police that Mukhtar disappeared all of a sudden on June 8, 2007, after which police got the information that he is arriving in Delhi with the contraband on June 12, 2007, when he was arrested.

Advocate Khan also pointed out that there was no evidence to suggest the existence of Abu Alqama, Abu Musab alias Tahir and Abu Hamza.

He also said the 1.5 kg contraband seized by the police was in different packets, out of which only 10 gm was sent for forensic tests, which casts a shadow on the recovery alleged to have been made from Mukhtar.